


Smile for me

by imustspeakmyheart



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Fluff, M/M, Nerd Anders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:35:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7839682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imustspeakmyheart/pseuds/imustspeakmyheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karl helps Anders find a tome for his research and finds he has a really cute smile. Anders doesn't think so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile for me

**Author's Note:**

> Another Kanders thing for a dear friend of mine who could use some cheering up. d

“No..No..Wrong section again. By Andraste’s holy knickers why is this so hard to find..” Karl heard him before he saw him, blond head bowed down and muttering to himself as he scanned the shelves. A sizeable stack of books was already cradled in his left arm. As Karl was cataloguing books that had been read and then returned to their library, he watched the other man from his peripheral vision for a while before going back to his work. He assumed the man was a student or researcher of some kind, since the Circle Library was fairly close to the local university.

It was easy for Karl to get lost in the routine of scanning a book and putting it back in its right place so when someone suddenly bumped into him he started, dropping the book he’d been about to push onto the shelf. Next to him he heard a crash as more books fell to the floor.

“Maker, I’m sorry! I wasn’t paying attention!”

Karl looked to where the person who’d bumped into him was already frantically picking up his stack of books and saw that it’d been the same man he’d spotted a while ago. Instantly he was crouched down and helping him, until all the tomes were safe and stacked up again.

“It’s alright, I assume you were elsewhere with your thoughts.” Only now did he get a good look at the other man as they both straightened. Blond hair as he’d noticed before, shoulder length with half of it pulled back in a messy bun. Thickly framed glasses, braces, pimples scattered across his face. Maker. He wasn’t unattractive, far from it. Somehow the whole geeky look worked for him. Pulling himself together, Karl quickly extended a hand.

“I’m Karl, I work here. Is there anything you’re looking for? I might have heard you talk about not being able to find a certain tome.” Chuckling, he scratched the back of his neck with his other hand.

“Uh. Anders. Hi.” Anders took his hand and shook it firmly. “Again, I’m really sorry for crashing into you like that. I get really excited about my research sometimes.” He looked like he might smile, but quickly closed his mouth again and withdrew his hand. “If it’s not too much trouble, I was looking for a book on Spirit Healing. I know you have plenty,” He said as he gestured to the books he was already carrying. “But this particular one is from a Tevinter author. I’m sure you have it, just hidden away somewhere in a dark corner.” This last remark was emphasized with a wink. Maker.

Anders talked quickly, Karl mused,  and with an enthusiasm Karl had only ever seen in children. It was ridiculously endearing.

“If you tell me the author’s name I can find you anything.” He offered with his best winning smile. Anders stepped closer to him and Karl noticed how tall the guy really was. Leaning down a bit, as if the information was top secret, he whispered the Tevinter name to him.

“Heriduna Tivanius! Maker, that _is_ controversial. Follow me.” Karl set the book down that he’d been planning to shelf right before Anders interrupted him and started leading Anders to the section on healing magic. “You know, you’re probably the first person to look at that tome in years.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. For my thesis I want to look at every source I can though. I’m very thorough.” There was a playfulness in his tone that make Karl smile before he even realised it. Anders just had this uncanny charm about him.

“Soo do you know anything about spirit healing? Are you even a mage? I mean, most people who work in this library are mages right?” Anders was walking next to Karl now, instead of trailing behind him, hugging his pile of books to his chest. He glanced down at Karl as he waited for his answers.

Chuckling, he sated the other man’s curiosity. “I am a mage. Not delicate enough for healing I’m afraid; I specialise in force spells.” This had clearly gotten Anders’ attention.

“A force mage! Maker’s balls, you don’t see many of them out there. Takes a lot strength to be able to perform those spells, right?” As he talked, his mouth inched open into a bright smile, revealing his braces. The second Anders realised this, however, he closed his mouth and covered it with a hand. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like an apology.

They had since reached the section of books they were headed to, so Karl looked at Anders with a confused expression. Anders averted his gaze.

“Your braces don’t look weird, you know. A smile looks good on you.” He said, then cleared his throat and turned away from Anders for a bit to find the book he wanted. As he scanned the backs of the lined up tomes he heard Anders shift next to him, probably to search as well.

“Aha! There you are.” Karl exclaimed, pulling the book from its place and holding it up triumphantly. He grinned at Anders as he turned back to him, only to find the other already looking at him with a slight blush on his cheeks. “L-let me scan those in for you, so you can take them with you! Do you have your membership card?” _Smoothly remove yourself from the situation, good job Karl._

Anders blinked and shook his head, then fished his purse from the messenger back around his shoulder and took out his card. “Here. Thank you.” Maker, that blush was still there. How had Karl never seen this man here before? He sure would have recognised a face like that.

Karl took the card and the other books from Anders and brought them to the counter, scanning them all in and putting them in a bag since there were too many of them to fit in the bag Anders had with him. When he got to the book by Heriduna, Karl decided to do a little gamble. Anders was waiting in front of the counter, staring into space and not paying attention to what he was doing. Karl took this chance to write down his phone number on a piece of paper, hiding it inside the book for Anders to hopefully find later.

Smiling, Karl bagged all the books and held out Anders’ card. “All done! It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again, Anders. Good luck on your thesis.”

As Anders took his leave he turned his head for a moment, smiling a small smile at Karl. Braces and all.

 

**_I meant it when I said you have a nice smile. Call me sometime X Karl_ **


End file.
